Burnside Elem Scholastic Academy, Chicago IL

Original Research by School Decision on Burnside Elem Scholastic Academy

Burnside Elementary Scholastic Academy is a public school on Chicago's South Side serving early childhood through eighth grade. The school draws a student body that is almost entirely African American, with a small Latino enrollment and a school population of just under three hundred students across its ten grade bands, from preschool through eighth.

The school's academic profile shows weaker results in math across all tested grades. In third grade, roughly a third of students reached proficiency in math, declining to a quarter in fourth grade and then dropping sharply to just a handful of students proficient by fifth grade. Performance remains low through middle school, with only one in six students proficient in sixth and eighth grades. Testing participation has been consistent and high, so these numbers reflect actual student performance rather than incomplete data.

English language arts performance tells a different story. Third grade shows similar proficiency to math, but fourth graders perform substantially better, with half reaching proficiency. Fifth grade reaches a notably strong level, and both sixth and seventh grades hover near half proficiency, with eighth grade showing solid performance. This grade-level variability in reading suggests that the school has found some success with older elementary and middle grades in ELA, even as math remains a challenge across the span.

Science results are available only for fifth and eighth grades. Fifth graders show very low proficiency, while eighth graders demonstrate a modest improvement, roughly one in three proficient. The limited science testing window means less can be inferred about the school's science instruction overall.

Across the range of subjects and grades where data are available, Burnside's overall proficiency index falls below the midpoint compared with other district-managed schools in Cook County. This positioning places the school at a peer level with other schools serving similar students in the Chicago Public Schools system, though families should understand that proficiency gaps exist and that math instruction is a particular area of concern.

The school's location in the Avalon Park neighborhood situates it within an area experiencing change. Median home values in the 60619 zip code are moderate by broader metropolitan standards, though they have declined slightly year over year. Rental availability is steady, and the housing market shows more supply than demand, meaning families relocating to the area find reasonable housing options without an unusually competitive market.

Chicago Public Schools is in the midst of significant shifts relevant to any family considering this school. The district has moved away from its decades-long school-choice model toward a renewed emphasis on neighborhood schools. The Board of Education transitioned in 2024 to a partly elected structure, moving toward full election in November 2026, giving parents direct voting power over district governance for the first time. In parallel, the district replaced its old numerical school rating system with holistic dashboards launched in late 2024, so the frame for how parents assess school quality is still in motion.

The district has also introduced Skyline, a comprehensive PreK-12 curriculum available universally to all schools at no cost, beginning in 2021-2022. This means Burnside, as a district school, has access to aligned instructional materials across English language arts, math, science, social science, world languages, and arts without needing to purchase curriculum separately. What impact Skyline implementation has had on Burnside's proficiency levels remains something a parent may want to look into further with the school.

Burnside serves a small elementary and middle school within a large district navigating both budget realities and instructional change. The school's ELA performance in upper grades suggests there is instructional strength in reading, yet the persistent math weakness signals an area where the school and its families may want to focus attention.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 329%

School 29% · District 38% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 425%

School 25% · District 29% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 57%

School 7% · District 24% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 615%

School 15% · District 23% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 710%

School 10% · District 27% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 816%

School 16% · District 23% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 329%

School 29% · District 36% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 39% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 575%

School 75% · District 43% · ▲ 32 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 29 pts above county median

Grade 646%

School 46% · District 45% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 752%

School 52% · District 46% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 858%

School 58% · District 48% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Science

Grade 514%

School 14% · District 29% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 832%

School 32% · District 31% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

This schoolChicago Public Schools Dist 299, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.